About 50 Canadian food companies manufactured snacks and other processed foods made with an ingredient that has been recalled due to possible salmonella contamination, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Tuesday.
In the past six days, a batch of the flavour enhancer hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) that was found last month to be contaminated with salmonella has resulted in the recall of more than 100 items in the U.S. and 11 in Canada, including five imports and six products that were made here. They include No Name and Compliments soup mixes, Family's Best potato chips, two dips from Sabatini's Gourmet Foods, and Mom's Pantry popcorn seasoning.
Catherine Airth, associate vice-president of operations, said the agency is continuing to work with the dozens of Canadian manufacturers to determine if there was a kill step for their products during production, such as a cooking or boiling process that kills the bacteria prior to consumption. That work began on February 26, a day after Nevada-based Basic Food Flavors, Inc., informed its clients of the HVP recall.
"I think we're in a good spot in the sense we know where it's gone, we just have to continue that work all the way through," said Airth.
Uncooked products, such as flavoured chips, snacks and dips put consumers at higher risk and will be subject to recalls.
Separately, the United States Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday released an inspection report into its ongoing investigation, which it says could balloon into the largest food recall in North American history because the additive is used in thousands of processed foods. The FDA probe began over a month ago when a client of Nevada-based Basic Food Flavors, Inc., found salmonella in HVP shipped from the company. The FDA then inspected its Las Vegas processing plant and identified salmonella in the company's processing equipment.
The newly released inspection report shows Basic Food Flavors received the first of three reports of positive environmental samples from its private testing laboratory on January 21, but did not stop distribution until Feb. 15.
The FDA report notes that, "after receiving the first private laboratory analytical results (dated Jan. 21) indicating the presence of salmonella in your facility, you continued to distribute HVP paste and powder products until Feb. 15, 2010."
All HVP manufactured since last September is caught up in the recall. This means millions of kilograms of potentially contaminated additives were distributed in bulk over a five-month period, including an undisclosed amount shipped to Chemroy Canada Inc., a specialty chemical and food ingredient distributor to Canadian food manufacturers.
Ed Dempsey, Chemroy Canada's food industry manager, said Tuesday the company doesn't conduct any spot product tests, but requires such suppliers as Basic Food Flavors to provide certificates of analysis "so that when we're bringing that product in, we have a high confidence that the product meets the specifications that the supplier has stated."
In this instance, the paperwork showed no product contamination, said Dempsey, who handed over Chemroy's client contact list and other relevant paperwork to CFIA within 24 hours of the February 25 recall. To date, there have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the recalled products, U.S. and Canadian authorities said.
Food contaminated with salmonella may not look or smell spoiled, but consuming food contaminated with these bacteria may cause salmonellosis, a food-borne illness.
In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. In otherwise healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms, such as high fever, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
One day after Avatar was disappointed at the Oscars, a Vancouver restaurant owner plans to file a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court today claiming copyright infringement against director James Cameron and other makers of the highest-grossing film of all time.
Emil Malak, 57, says the similarities between his Terra Incognita and James Cameron's Avatar are too striking to simply be a coincidence.
Malak's lawyer Suzan El-Khatib said the claim to be filed today will name, among others, Avatar writer and director James Cameron, his company Lightstorm Entertainment Inc., and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
El-Khatib said there are both general and specific similarities in the two stories including the premise of humans going to mine precious minerals on a planet inhabited by indigenous people.
In both stories, she said, a tree is a focal point and contains the collective memories of the indigenous people. In Terra Incognita, it is a Life Tree. Cameron calls it the "Hometree."
Even the characters are similar, she said, with both incorporating spotted faces, long braided hair, flat noses and yellow eyes.
"They are quite alike," El-Khatib said yesterday.
She said the suit will make a claim against the defendants for "damages for copyright infringement for substantially reproducing, adapting and publicly presenting, or in the alternative authorizing such acts, the plaintiffs work as a literary work and a cinematographic work entitled Avatar."
Malak, who owns the Bellaggio Cafe at Hornby Street and Robson Street in Vancouver, began thinking about his sci-fi tale in 1996 at the suggestion of his then seven- and eight-year-old sons who wanted him to write something more exciting than the opera and historical fiction he'd been working on.
It was a turning point in Malak's life. In 1996 he had lost his Granville Island Hotel in a $5 million bankruptcy.
"I took a three-year sabbatical. I lived on about $2-300 a month. I stayed with my brother in Richmond and did nothing but write," said Malak.
He began putting pen to paper for what he calls his "children's story" in 1997 and in the end he figures he spent $100,000 on his script.
He hired a graphic artist to draw his character designs and a screen writer to co-write the script. He took a screen writing course and first copyrighted his work with the Writers Guild of Canada in 1998. He copyrighted it with the guild nine more times between 1998 and 2003, every time he advanced the story and characters.
In a February 27, 1998 note filed with his documents at the Writers Guild of Canada, he wrote that he was copywriting his work because he was "afraid of the big boys."
"I had just lost Granville Island (and) lost $5 million so you become very intuitive. You don't trust anybody," said Malak. "I was so scared someone was going to steal it."
Malak, who was born in Egypt, educated in England and moved to Canada in 1993, believes it was October 2002 when he sent his script and graphic designs to about twenty movie studios including Cameron and his company Lightstorm Entertainment Inc.
He got no response and the script was never returned to him. Malak was stunned to learn of the similarities between his story and Avatar when the movie was released late last year.
Malak told The Province newspaper he believes that James Cameron had an idea similar to his - to write about indigenous people on another planet - but there's no way to account for stories that are up to 60% similar in his opinion.
"Is it possible that two ends can come up with so much similarities? Life tree, same mining material just called different names, the tails?" said Malak. "The basic building blocks of both stories are very similar."
In the end, Malak believes Avatar was shaped in part by his story and he is filing the B.C. Supreme Court writ today because he wants it to be known. He insists it's not about the money.
"I eat three times a day. I have a great life," he said. "The big boys have to recognize you can't just take things and make it a part of yours and walk all over the small guys."
"In my own heart I'm very happy and very comfortable that my vision has become a blockbuster."
The parent company of Real Canadian Superstore and T&T Supermarket has pledged to stop selling non-sustainable fish and immediately removed four at-risk species from Loblaw's 1,000-plus stores across the country.
Loblaw-controlled stores sell roughly one third of the seafood sold in Canada.
Loblaw has already delisted orange roughy, Chilean sea bass, shark and skate, all of which are overfished. The four species make up about one per cent of Loblaw's seafood sales, "having already become difficult to procure," said Paul Uys, the Loblaw executive responsible for the sustainable fish initiative.
All 52 of British Columbia's Real Canadian Superstore and Extra Foods stores have stopped selling the four species. Two stores, Coquitlam Westwood and Metrotown, are participating in a pilot public education project in which customers are being informed of the policy and the reasons for it, as well as being offered substitute species that are considered more sustainable. Signs announcing the policy are placed in empty trays in the seafood department and brochures explain the program.
The information campaign will roll out in more than 1,000 stores nationwide this June.
Loblaw is formulating policy in consultation with the Marine Stewardship Council and the World Wildlife Fund. The MSC conducts independent assessments of fisheries all over the world and awards eco-label certification to those it deems sustainable.
Loblaw group plans to stop selling pet foods and supplements that contain at-risk fish products as well. Company representatives say it will take several years to fully implement the program as many standards must be researched and drafted. When the program is fully in place, Loblaw plans to buy only sustainable canned, frozen, fresh, wild and farmed fish.
"It's a very intricate position we've taken and we have to educate our staff and obviously we want to see how consumers are going to react," Uys said.
Full implementation will take until the end of 2013.
T&T Market, purchased by the Loblaw group last year, has not yet delisted the species at-risk, but Loblaw has made it clear to T&T management that the Richmond-based chain of 23 Asian supermarkets will be expected to comply with the company standard for sustainable seafood products within the announced time frame.
Loblaw considers delisting a short-term position, according to Uys. "The intent is to work with organizations and manage seafood fisheries so that they are sustainable," he explained. "Some of the species that we have delisted -- the Chilean sea bass is one -- is already being caught under more controlled, managed sources. We just aren't comfortable yet that we can sell those fish. It is our intent, as we work with these management groups, to reintroduce those species."
Loblaw's decision to ally itself with the U.K.-based Marine Stewardship Council is not sitting well with everyone. The David Suzuki Foundation, the Watershed Watch Salmon Society and the SkeenaWild Conservation Trust formally objected this week to a decision by an MSC assessment team to designate BRITISH COLUMBIA sockeye as sustainable seafood. British Columbia sockeye has not yet been certified by MSC pending consideration of objections.
"Scientists have shown that many salmon populations, particularly in the Fraser River, are not only at very low levels, but at risk of extinction," Dr. Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, said in a release last week.
"[Loblaw] sources seafood from around the world and no one else has the global reach that the MSC has," Uys said. "We have no question about their ability."
For Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there was more riding on Sunday's hockey game than just national pride in his favourite sport. There was also a case of Molson Canadian in it, which is great beer.
Mr. Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama each wagered a case of beer on the outcome of the Olympic men's hockey final. Now that Canada has won, Mr. Obama now owes Mr. Harper a case of Molson Canadian. If the U.S. had won, Mr. Harper would have owed Mr. Obama a case of Yuengling beer.
Mr. Harper congratulated the Canadian men's team in the locker room after the game, his press secretary Dimitri Soudas said in an email.
"We're really proud of you all. You've done a great job on behalf of the country, not just this gold, which we all wanted so bad... but 14 gold... an Olympic record for any country in the Winter Olympics. Congratulations," Mr. Harper told the team.
Both leaders chose symbolic brews. Molson is North America's oldest brewery, founded in 1786 by John Molson. Molson Canadian is also an official supplier to the Vancouver Olympics and is known for its TV ads that play up nationalism over Canadian favourites like hockey, winter, and summers at the cottage. The company merged with U.S.-owned Coors in 2005.
Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the U.S. and was founded in Pennsylvania in 1829. Mr. Soudas made his own bet with his U.S. counterpart, Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs. The two had initially bet on the women's final when Canada beat the U.S. 2-0. Mr. Gibbs was to wear a Canadian hockey jersey for the first 15 minutes of a media briefing, but Mr. Soudas and Mr. Gibbs decided to go another round over the men's gold medal game. The men's team win confirms Mr. Gibbs will have to don the red and white sweater.
"Well. I've always thought that the colours of red, white and. That's it. Just red and white bring out the colour of Robert's eyes," Mr. Soudas said in the e-mail. "I'll be sending Robert a Team Canada jersey to remember and cherish for the rest of his life the closest friendship between any two countries in the world."
A Russian chimp has been sent to rehab by its zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, according to a popular daily newspaper.
An ex-performer, Zhora became aggressive at his circus and was eventually transferred to a zoo in the southern Russian city of Rostov, where he fathered several baby chimps, learned to draw with markers and picked up two vices.
"The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze," the Komsomolskaya Pravda paper said.
No matter where they're from in the world, it seems like many people want to get a piece of Saskatchewan at the Winter Olympics. Upon his arrival Monday at the Saskatchewan pavilion in Vancouver, Regina citizen Davin Stachoski noted the longest line-up was not to get into the venue; it was to have your picture taken in front of a green screen that would eventually be superimposed on a photo of either a wheat field, a potash mine or Gainer the Gopher at Mosaic Stadium.
"It kind of boggled my mind being from Saskatchewan, but it was really cool to see people lining up for it," Stachoski said with a laugh.
But while many from all over the world were trying to take in what they could of Saskatchewan, particularly during Tuesday's Saskatchewan Day, when 500 people were lined up waiting for the pavilion to open
"I watched the first week on TV but then getting out here... what you don't expect is the amount of people," said Stachoski, who with his girlfriend Raeleen Walbaum is attending hockey, curling and speed skating until they return to Regina on Thursday. "You have to be prepared for lineups everywhere. It's tough to find a place to get a drink or have supper."
"The crowds are overwhelming, but the atmosphere is amazing. You see people from all over the world, hear so many different languages. It's incredible."
"The fever is all over the city."
Regina's Cathie Kryzanowski and her husband Dale returned home Tuesday after five days of watching hockey, figure skating and ski jumping. While they didn't get into Canada Hockey Place on Sunday to watch the home team take on the U.S. in men's hockey, the Kryzanowskis did catch the game on the big screens at the Saskatchewan pavilion.
"There were good Saskatchewan sports fans there and ones we adopted," said Cathie. "It was second best to being at the game, I think. Saskatchewan sports fans are enthusiastic sports fans so it was almost like coming home to watch the game."
The sights, sounds and taste of Saskatoon will be exhibited at the Vancouver Winter Olympics today as Saskatoon Day takes over at the Saskatchewan pavilion. Saskatoon Day gives the city a promotional opportunity and gives home-grown singers a chance to display their talent to Olympic spectators from around the world.
"It's a real focus on what makes Saskatoon a special place to visit or do business," said Todd Brandt, president and CEO of Saskatoon Tourism.
Mayor Don Atchison will host a reception at the pavilion for the media and business contacts. Atchison will also be part of the unveiling of "Sunny," the new mascot for the city. Meanwhile, Saskatoon-born singers Kyle Riabko and Megan Lane will perform, as will Earl Pereira and his band Mobadass.
The entertainment at the pavilion will play a large role in promoting Saskatoon.
"People come for the food and beverage but they end up staying because of our entertainers," said Trent Fraser, director of marketing and production for the Saskatchewan Pavilion.
The pavilion has been welcoming more than 8,000 people a day, while Fraser said organizers were expecting about 4,500 to 5,000 visitors daily.
"We are one of those go-to pavilions and word on the street is that we have one of the better ones," Fraser said.
The City of Saskatoon representatives will be showing a promotional video at the pavilion throughout the day today. The video will also be shown on the six-storey translucent dome at the pavilion so people outside can see it. Fraser estimates more than 50,000 people will walk by the dome because it is located within walking distance of BC Place, GM Place and Molson Hockey House. There will be several prize giveaways at the pavilion today, and people standing in line will be given Saskatoon pins as well as forms to enter draws. Another prize featured on Saskatoon Day is a free trip to Saskatoon.
Man, if I were visiting Vancouver, I'd sign up for a free trip to Saskatoon, even though I already live in Saskatoon. Now, if my name was drawn and I already live in Saskatoon, how would that work? Would I get to leave Saskatoon then fly back?
"Half the battle is getting people to Saskatoon because once they get there, they like what they see in the city," Brandt said.
Bison burgers will be featured at the pavilion as will Harvest Meats sausage from Yorkton. Saskatoon berry tarts will be given out today as well.
Local Seinfeld fans in Tallahassee, Florida rejoiced this past Monday when one of the show's best known characters arrived in the rain!
Larry Thomas, or the Soup Nazi in the episode titled "The Soup Nazi," was the star attraction for a United Way fundraiser at the Double Tree Hotel.
And, of course, it did involve soup.
Patiently signing ladles and preparing for pictures with eager fans, Thomas is no stranger to using his now-famous Seinfeld character to aid groups that give back to communities. Thomas has worked numerous events, including one for rescue workers who lost their homes after Hurricane Katrina. Thomas said he was happy to help United Way of the Big Bend.
"United Way has been around for so long," Thomas said, "You know the money is going to the right place."
Thomas helped United Way put on its second annual "All Souped Up" event, which featured soups from several local facilities.
For many of those who attended, the ability to donate to the United Way and meet the famed Soup Nazi was a sweet deal.
"How could you pass up a chance to see the Soup Nazi in person?" said Jonathan Fox, an attorney with the state Senate who braved the rainy weather. "And particularly on a day like today, it's perfect soup weather."
Walmart Canada says it will create up to 6,500 jobs in retail and construction this year as part of a plan to open 35 to 40 new supercentres in Canada.
A spokesman for the world's largest retailer said yesterday that more than half of the locations will be entirely new stores or relocations and expansions. The remainder will be renovations of existing stores. I wonder if this means the Preston Crossing location in Saskatoon will be a supercentre as well?
Walmart says that the investments will cost almost half a billion dollars. Overall, the projects are expected to create 2,000 jobs in construction and 4,500 employee positions at the retail stores, said Walmart spokesman Andrew Pelletier. "We will be confirming the specific markets later in the year as we get closer to beginning these projects," he said, though he declined to offer a targeted start date."
Walmart has been slowly rolling out its supercentres in Canada over the past few years. The concept combines its traditional retail layout with a wide array of food items, including produce and dairy. The super centres are intended to lure consumers away from supermarkets and into Walmart stores.
That puts the American retail giant in direct competition with Canadian grocery chains Loblaw, Metro and Sobeys. For their part, the Canadian chains have been introducing general merchandise into their selling spaces in a bid to remain competitive with Walmart and other big box retailers. Walmart said that the new additions will bring its total number of stores in Canada to 325 from 280, which includes 124 supercentres. It already employs more than 70,000 people in this country.
Earlier this month, the company announced separate plans to open a refrigerated distribution centre in Balzac, Alberta in the fall, creating 1,400 jobs.
Paediatricians in the United States are calling for hotdogs and other foods to be redesigned to reduce the risk of children choking on them.
In a new policy statement published in its journal Pediatrics on Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics says hotdogs are the food most commonly linked with choking deaths among children.
It doesn't go so far as to suggest what shape a reformulated wiener should take, but the organization says manufacturers of the ballpark favourite, and other food producers, should give their products a makeover.
It is estimated that between 66 and 77 children under age 10 die every year in the United States from choking on food and more than 10,000 emergency room visits are due to choking on food among children under 14 years old. In Canada, an estimated 44 children age 14 and under die yearly from choking, suffocation and strangulation and approximately 380 are hospitalized. Almost half of those hospitalizations are from choking on food, according to Safe Kids Canada, which draws the data from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program.
"Hotdogs and some other items should not be given to children under three," said Kristen Gane, a program co-ordinator for Safe Kids Canada. Children under that age do not have the molar teeth needed to properly grind food."
Parents should also avoid feeding nuts, raw carrots, popcorn kernels and some hard fruits and vegetables to young children, said Gane. When serving hotdogs to older children, they should be sliced lengthwise, she added.
"It prevents the hotdog from becoming a plug in the throat," said Gane. "Because of their shape and texture, once they are lodged in the throat, it's very difficult to get them out."
The Pediatrics article says round candy, grapes, marshmallows, meat sticks, sausages, chewing gum and peanut butter are also high-risk foods that can act as plugs in the throats of young children.
"Food manufacturers should design new foods and redesign existing foods, including meat products to avoid shapes, sizes, textures, and other characteristics that increase choking risk to children, to the extent possible," the group recommends.
It also calls for mandatory warning labels on foods that pose a choking danger to children and for better surveillance systems to warn the public of hazards.
Jeanette Jones, vice-president of communications for Maple Leaf Foods, said in an interview that she's not aware of any Canadian meat manufacturers that carry warning labels about choking hazards but it's something to be considered.
"We need to assess that and be confident that that is an effective mechanism," she said.
As for changing the shape of hotdogs, Jones responded, "I can't commit that we are going to do anything but we are certainly going to fully and carefully consider the recommendations in the report."
Maple Leaf Foods sells hotdogs under four different brand names.
The group says there are numerous regulations related to preventing children from choking on toys and other consumer products, but little in the way of protecting children against choking on food, "yet, food is more likely to go into a child's mouth than a toy."
The Canadian Paediatric Society does not have a similar policy statement and did not have a spokesperson available Monday to comment on its American counterpart's proposals.
Safe Kids Canada encourages parents to instil good eating habits in their children at an early age. The group says that includes having them sit at a table to eat their meals and not rushing, rather than running around and playing while eating.
Genetically engineered pigs are one step closer to becoming meat on Canadian kitchen tables with the Government of Canada poised to declare that they do not harm the environment. According to Canwest News Service, Environment Canada has determined that Yorkshire pigs developed at the University of Guelph are not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The official declaration will be made on Saturday.
This is the first regulatory hurdle to get the pigs to market, which will be a first in Canada if Health Canada approves Guelph's pending application, submitted last year, seeking a government declaration that its transgenic pig is fit for human consumption.
The so-called "Enviropigs," the world's first transgenic animal created to solve an environmental problem, were created in 1999 with a snippet of mouse DNA introduced into their chromosomes. The pigs produce low-phosphorus feces.
The Guelph scientists were able to reduce phosphorus pollution by creating a special composite gene that enables digestion of a normally unavailable form of phosphorus. This allows the pigs to produce manure that is 30-65% lower in phosphorus than found in the manure of regular pigs -- blamed for polluting surface and groundwater when raised in intensive livestock operations.
"The university has successfully satisfied the requirements to allow the line of transgenic pigs to be produced and farmed using appropriate containment procedures. So that's the step we're at right now," said Steven Liss, associate vice-president for research at the University of Guelph. "As part of an overall goal, I think it's fair to say, yes, absolutely, the university researchers involved were very driven and passionate about addressing an important environmental problem at the same time supporting production of food stock and to bring forward a more sustainable and environmentally friendly option to do that."
Liss declined to speculate how long it will take Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration in the United States to consider the university's submissions seeking approval for human food consumption and subsequent commercialization.
"It's not only a learning process to the university, but it's also a learning process for the regulatory bodies that are, for the first time, really dealing with these novel technologies and the development and approval of transgenic animals," said Liss.
Patricia Howard, a biotechnology and public policy expert at Simon Fraser University, doesn't think Health Canada is up to the job, nor does she think the Canadian public is ready to embrace transgenic pork on their dinner plates anytime soon.
"If you were to start talking about genetically modified pigs entering the food supply, I think eyebrows would go up. A lot of people would have a lot of questions," she said. "I imagine most people would applaud the idea of trying to create a pig whose manure wouldn't be as serious a contaminant to the environment. However, a lot of people who have concerns about pig production will raise the question, 'Well, aren't you just trying to find another way to continue to produce pigs in these enormous confinement facilities?'"
Howard added there's a bigger problem than consumer confidence.
"My own assessment of Canada's ability to assess is that Health Canada is not in the right shape to be able to do this kind of assessment. I'm not impressed at all," she said, pointing to the way genetically modified crops have been given the green light.
"Health assessments weren't done. Health Canada simply read the reports of the companies, but then they say whether they think it was adequately done," said Howard.
Currently, there are no products derived from genetically engineered animals approved for food or feed use in Canada or anywhere else in the world.
Health Canada, Environment Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is charged with considering applications of genetically engineered products for use as animal feed, said all applications are "subject to a rigorous, science-based review process" before being approved for use in food or feed or for release into the environment, according to a statement made to Canwest News Service.
And should the Enviropig "receive full regulatory approval in the future, other essential considerations such as consumer and market acceptance have to be made before deciding if commercialization should proceed."
Guelph's Enviropig research project has received funding from both industry and government, including Ontario Pork, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Canada.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration last year paved the way for Americans to eat genetically engineered meat and fish when the regulator ruled that transgenic animals will be considered as an "animal drug" -- and held to the same requirements already existing for conventionally bred animals treated with hormones or antibiotics.
Lilydale, the company that previously had commercials with a guy that possessed a funny accent, is being acquired by an Ontario-based company called Sofina Foods for about $130 million in a deal that ends its 70 years as a producer-owned poultry processor.
Privately-owned Sofina, based in Markham, Ontario, will pay $75 million in cash and debentures, and assume bout $55 million in debt.
Sofina, which has about 1,200 employees at six facilities, produces mostly beef-and-pork-processed meats under private labels, and their own Fletchers, Cuddy, Quality Meats and Vienna brands.
Lilydale has 2,100 employees at two Edmonton plants, one single plant in Calgary, Abbotsford and Port Coquitlam, B.C., and Wynyard, Saskatchewan.
Even Saskatchewan inmates are pitching in to help Haitians recover from a devastating earthquake, says Corrections Minister Yogi Huyghebaert.
As corrections staff held bake sales, book sales, silent auctions and bottle drives to raise funds during the past month for Haiti relief, some inmates also amassed a contribution by donating wages from work assignments or giving cash from their trust accounts.
The tally of money the two groups raised is near $7,000, with $4,300 from staff and another $2,300 from inmates, according to the government.
"It was not prompted in any way," said Huyghebaert of the inmate fundraising drive. "I know the corrections staff, they decided on their own and maybe they talked to the inmates or the inmates heard about it, but to me it's unprecedented."
More than 150 corrections staff also volunteered for a possible work assignment to Haiti being organized by Correctional Service of Canada. One or two workers will be selected if that federal mission goes ahead, Huyghebaert said at a press conference Wednesday. The minister also applauded the ongoing efforts of so many Saskatchewan citizens trying to help Haiti, including seven residents who will leave next month to work in partnership with the non-governmental organization Haiti Arise.
Members of the group, called Western Canada Relief for Haiti, plan to travel to the community of Grand Goave, where they hope to learn what's needed for long-term support, said Carlos Petit-Homme, a Regina resident born and raised in Haiti.
His friend Chris Szarka, a Saskatchewan Roughrider and Regina city councillor, said he hopes he can put his construction skills to use. The team will stay in a 12-acre compound that since the earthquake has been serving as a tent city helping thousands of survivors daily, Szarka said.
"While the compound's building still stands, some of the outlying buildings have been destroyed and need help," Szarka said, adding the Haiti Arise group is exhausted and needs help.
The delegation will be led by Roland LaFrance, a former RCMP officer who works as chief of staff to government cabinet minister Bill Hutchinson. The others headed to Haiti are environmental engineer Sharon McDaniel; John Bower, a 35-year certified Saskatchewan public health inspector with a special focus on sanitation and sewage systems; Tammy Robert, an executive producer with Rawlco Radio Ltd.; and Brad LaFrance, who is trained in search and rescue and is a licensed heavy equipment operator and construction worker.
Only time will tell if a class-action lawsuit accusing Canada's biggest chocolate makers of collusion has bitten off more than it can chew... but it has achieved at least a partial victory.
Cadbury Adams Canada Inc. has agreed to pay $5.7 million to have it removed as a defendant in a lawsuit about nothing. The class action includes every Canadian who ate a chocolate bar between 2001 and 2008, because, under the terms of the class action, unless you opted out, you were in.
"The case includes anybody who has bought chocolate in Canada (from February 1, 2001, to December 31, 2008)," said Charles Wright, one of the London, Ontario-based lawyers at Siskinds LLP helping handle the class action.
Wright said the class action alleges that Cadbury Adams Canada Inc., Mars Canada Inc., Hershey Canada Inc., Nestle Canada Inc. and some related companies conspired to fix the prices of chocolate products, such as Caramilk bars, Smarties, M&Ms and Oh Henry! bars, in Canada. Wow... what an odd conspiracy.
It further alleges representatives of the companies held secret meetings to discuss prices and penalized stores that undercut the recommended retail prices by limiting the supply of goodies available to them. Last week, Cadbury agreed to pay to have itself removed as a defendant in the lawsuit. Just as importantly, Wright said, the company is providing the plaintiffs with valuable information that will help with the litigation against the other defendants.
No matter how much money the class action receives in settlements, the average chocolate-consuming-consumer isn't going to see anything. That's because the volume of purchases, even for big-box retailers, won't be enough to justify writing individuals a cheque.
For example, if you've been paying one dollar for your favourite chocolate fix for years, your claim won't be for a buck each but the difference between what you paid and what you should have paid. That could be as low as a nickel per chocolate bar, Wright said.
In situations where the court decides people have overpaid for various items, the settlement money is typically donated to a charity, such as the United Way, or to food banks.
Life in Saskatchewan almost couldn't get any better, according to a province-wide survey on quality of life. The study, conducted by the Community Initiatives Fund, surveyed more than 4,000 residents from ten regions throughout Saskatchewan, with 79% of respondents stating they were satisfied with their overall quality of life.
A further 84% agreed the quality of life in their communities has either stayed the same or improved during the past three years.
The study took place from May to August 2009. Residents were asked to rate their perceptions of access to, and use of, programs and services in their communities, as well as their community and personal quality of life.
The majority of respondents (57%) said they were satisfied with the overall quality of recreation and leisure facilities in their community, while 60% said they were satisfied with access to necessary programs or services.
What do you do when you're a business owner that deals with a supposedly-obnoxious customer? Well, you use the law to ban them for life, if you can.
A man has been banned for life from two Tim Hortons outlets for complaining one too many times about burned coffee. According to the CBC, Jimmy Craig from St. Andrews, New Brunswick lodged three complaints about burned decaffeinated coffee at the popular restaurant chain.
"It was like brown, burned water," Craig told the CBC. "I almost, you know, got sick in the sink."
When Craig met with Edwin Dow, the owner of the St. Andrews franchise, Dow served him with a letter banning him under the province's trespass act. Craig, who is a paramedic, is forbidden from entering the St. Andrews store and another one in nearby St. Stephens unless he's responding to a medical emergency. He has hired a lawyer to have the ban revoked.
"I was baffled," Craig said. "It didn't make any sense at all. All I wanted to do was bring it to his attention that there was a problem with the consistency of his product."
"I don't see this is a way to treat people. Whatever happened to the customer is always right?"
Do you drink a can of soda every day? Maybe it's time to think again. Drinking two or more soft drinks a week may nearly double a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer, researchers are warning. That is scary, and is definitely going to change my soda-drinking habits.
Cancer of the pancreas is one of the most rapidly fatal tumours in adults; only 6% of people are still alive five years after a diagnosis. The pancreas makes insulin, and scientists believe high concentrations of insulin can drive the growth of pancreatic cancer cells.
Eating too much sugar increases insulin levels in the body, and one of the leading sources of added sugar in our diets are soft drinks. The new study, by researchers from the University of Minnesota, was based on more than 60,000 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study who were followed for 14 years. During that time, 140 people developed invasive pancreatic cancer. At the start of the study, as part of a food frequency questionnaire, people were asked to report how often they drank one glass of pop. A glass was considered 237 millilitres, or about the equivalent of one cup.
Those who reported drinking two or more soft drinks per week had an 87% increased risk of pancreatic cancer compared to those who didn't drink soft drinks. The pop drinkers were averaging five drinks per week. The finding held after researchers took smoking, obesity, diabetes, red meat intake, coffee consumption and a "whole myriad" of other nutritional factors into account, said lead author Noel Mueller, now a research associate at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington.
There was no significant association between juice consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer. Other studies have looked at the association between pop and pancreatic cancer, but the results haven't been consistent. One of the strengths of the new study is its size.
However, there were only 140 cases of pancreatic cancer, so the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases. Mueller also said caution needs to be taken when extrapolating the findings from the Singapore Chinese study to a western population. But other studies in American and European populations have found similar associations.
A study of 88,794 U.S. nurses and 49,364 male health professionals found that women who consumed three or more sugar-sweetened drinks a week had a 57% greater risk of pancreatic cancer than did women who drank no more than one soft drink per month. In that study, there was no association between sweetened soft drinks and pancreatic cancer among men. But a Swedish study involving nearly 78,000 women and men reported in 2006 that high consumption of sugar and high-sugar foods -- including soft drinks -- was associated with a greater risk of pancreatic cancer in both sexes.
An estimated 3,900 Canadians were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year. Known risk factors include smoking, diabetes and obesity, said Gillian Bromfield, senior manager of cancer control policy at the Canadian Cancer Society.
The new study is published this week in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is also a serious hockey buff, played the role of interviewer Friday night as he quizzed NHL legends Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky at a Saskatoon charity event.
The trio's chit-chat emulated a Hockey Night in Canada feature, The Hotstove, as Howe and Gretzky answered questions ranging from the state of the game today, to their thoughts on career longevity.
"What's the secret to longevity?" Mr. Harper asked, as members of the audience chuckled.
"Maybe I'm asking [that question] personally," he added, sensing the knowing elbow-nudges from the crowd. "How do you stick around for a while?"
The question drew hearty laughs from the audience of 1,200, who paid $300 per plate to attend the 50th annual Kinsmen dinner. Unfortunately, the hockey legends' answers were not picked up by news microphones.
Mr. Harper appeared relaxed amid the superstar guests and genuinely engaged in the topic.
"What was your best single moment in hockey?" Mr. Harper asked.
Howe, 81, did not hesitate and answered: "When I met Colleen," his wife of 55 years who died in March 2009.
Mr. Gretzky, 49, recalled a number of fond memories from his playing days.
"The very first time I played in the NHL," Gretzky said, recalling he was on the ice against Stan Mikita, a hockey star of the day.
"And there's nothing like lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time," Gretzky added.
Mr. Harper also quizzed Mr. Gretzky about Canada's chances in hockey at the upcoming winter Olympic Games, in Vancouver.
"Going into the Olympic Games, it comes down to a couple things," Gretzky said.
"Goaltending," he said was one key element. "And secondly, your best players play at the calibre they are capable of playing at under high scrutiny. Then they will be fine."
Unless you were living in a cave during the last few weeks, you would know that the Super Bowl was on television yesterday, and the Colts lost to the Saints.
Well, something we always enjoy watching are the Super Bowl ads, after the game, because we live in Canada and aren’t allowed to watch the ads that are shown in America.
Well, after some archiving, here is the Simpsons Coca-Cola commercial we got all excited about. Enjoy!
Think that muffin labelled as low-fat won't get to your ass? Well, think again! Muffins billed as low-fat at your favourite coffee shop may not be so free of fat. And that low-fat sandwich or pizza slice on the menu of your fast-food joint may not be as "lean" as advertised.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency found that fat claims were often exaggerated when chain restaurants provided nutrition information to their customers. That's a shame. The agency launched its menu verification program at coffee shops and quick-service restaurants after many of the big chains began to make fat-related claims and to provide nutrition numbers for their standard menu items, usually on their websites or in brochures.
The government tests, drawn from samples from across the country and conducted over the last two years, found only six of 11 baked goods labelled to be either low in fat or trans-fat free lived up to their billing. The tests involved muffins, doughnuts, bagels and cookies. Twenty-eight samples of sandwiches, pizzas, burgers or fries labelled as low in fat or free of trans-fats were tested, and the claim held up in 18 cases. Of the 10 with bogus fat-related claims, the inaccuracies were "in large part" due to saturated fat levels, according to CFIA.
Grace Ramos, chief of compliance in CFIA's labelling and fraud branch, said the results for the fat claims were of concern.
"The purchasing decision of consumers will be based on the signage that they see. That's why we are looking at the way advertisements are being made -- because people buy based on what they perceive as healthy for them, so low fat or reduced fat is something that consumers will look for," Ramos said in an interview.
The good news for consumers is the compliance rate was much higher when the agency checked calorie counts and other nutritional facts, such as the number of grams of fat or sugar in a menu item; variances of up to 20% on declared values are allowed to account for the inherent variability of nutrients in foods and the variability of laboratory methods. Fifteen out of nineteen baked goods tested for nutritional information were compliant.
Meanwhile, the calorie count held up in 13 of 15 samples listing the number of calories in main dishes, such as a burger, pizza slice, submarine sandwich or wrap. Nine out of ten samples tested for sodium levels also were accurate.
"One of our major focus of this project is to make sure that all the declaration in the menus and the nutrition information specifically for these products are accurate and truthful and not misleading," said Ramos.
CFIA refused to provide a list of chain restaurants included in its survey or reveal which items failed to live up to their fat claims. According to minutes of an internal meeting about the project released under Access to Information regulations, in the case of "unsatisfactory lab results," CFIA officials planned to conduct follow-up inspections with companies "to ask for the basis for the nutrition information they provide consumers, what kind of quality assurance procedures are taken to ensure they are within declared values, and if they conduct tests to verify accuracy of the information."
Without providing any specifics, Ramos said, "in most instances, they will correct or remove their signage."
Public-health advocate Bill Jeffrey said it's good to see CFIA is testing claims made by restaurants trying to cash in on health-conscious customers.
"If they're providing nutrition information in brochures, it becomes an advertisement and it becomes information that's subject to verification. So the food inspection agency should be checking out those numbers. People just need numbers that they can count on," said Jeffrey, the Canadian director of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest.
In the next round of testing, scheduled for later this year, CFIA will focus on net quantity, method of production and type of cut. For example, if the restaurant promotes a fish dish as Pacific Salmon, it can't be Atlantic. And if the menu says the item is a six-ounce grade A Alberta beef, it can't be five-ounce beef from Ontario. The newly released test results come as mandatory menu labelling continues to gain steam in North America as part of an effort to reduce obesity.
In the United States, some of the country's larger cities have passed menu-labelling laws, including New York City, Seattle and Philadelphia. The state of California also requires menu labelling and the U.S. health bill currently before Congress would take the California initiative national. Lawmakers say consumers make smarter choices when they know at the point of sale the nutrition facts for snacks and meals.
In Canada, if a private member's bill sponsored by an NDP member of the Ontario legislature passes, fast-food restaurants in that province will be required to limit trans fats and to provide nutrition labels on menus. A similar federal bill drafted by a Liberal MP in Ottawa was voted down in 2007.
Argentina President Cristina Fernandez recommended pork as an alternative to Viagra on Wednesday, saying that she spent a satisfying weekend with her husband after eating barbecued pork.
"I've just been told something I didn't know; that eating pork improves your sex life... I'd say it's a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra," President Cristina Fernandez said to leaders of the pig farming industry.
She said she recently ate pork and "things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true."
Argentines are the world's biggest-per-capita consumers of beef, but the government has sought to promote pork as alternative in recent years due to rising steak prices and as a way to diversify the meat industry.
"Trying it doesn't cost anything, so let's give it a go," Fernandez said in the televised speech.
That's just odd. I could never really picture any prime minister or president making a televised speech about sex.
Coca-Cola today launched a social media campaign on Facebook that teases its upcoming Super Bowl commercials while raising funds for Boys & Girls Club of America.
Through the company's Facebook fan page, located at www.facebook.com/livepositively, members can send friends virtual gifts of Coca-Cola, which is a bottle image that appears on their profile and News Feeds. In return, sends get 20-second previews of the new commercials that the company plans to air during the Super Bowl. Coca-Cola donates $1 to the Boys & Girls Club for each gift sent. At noon on gift day, February 7, gift-givers will receive both full ads before they are revealed to the general public on the CBS broadcast that night.
"By using our Super Bowl ads to invite people to join us in supporting Boys & Girls Clubs, we're going beyond simply airing great commercials on a terrific live television event," said Katie Bayne, CMO of Coca-Cola North America. "We're reminding people that whenever they enjoy a Coca-Cola, they play a role in helping us make a difference in the lives of others. By opening a Coke they create a happiness multiplier."
The two new commercials are part of the year-old global "Open happiness" campaign from independent Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Oregon.
In one commercial, starring characters from The Simpsons, Mr. Burns has lost his millions and only looks at the bright side of life after convenience store clerk Apu gives him a Coke. In the other spot, a sleepwalker leaves his tent to trek through the African savannah, bypassing a cheetah, a herd of elephants and other dangerous wildlife, to get to a Coke inside a cabin fridge.
You know what I've always hated about youths, besides their foul stenches? The fact that they drink energy drinks, when they don't need them. Occasionally, you'll see a high school student that drinks energy drinks. And why would they drink so many of them? Well, they are stupid, as I fail to see why they would need energy drinks in the first place. As a university student taking five classes and attempting to study, I can see why I would drink those things... but I don't drink them.
Well, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools has enacted a new nutrition policy, and energy drinks are forbidden from school property. Now that's good.
The policy, which division administrators approved last week, will also prompt the gradual elimination of diet pops, sweetened juices, flavoured milks and waters, and sports drinks from Catholic school vending machines, cafeterias and school events where food is served.
"There is such a proliferation in the amount of prepared -- and, in some cases, unhealthy -- food choices going on," Superintendent of Education Greg Chatlain said. He expects the policy to be phased in at Catholic schools during the next couple of years.
"You think about what's best for student learning," Chatlain said. "Coming with the equivalent over lunch time of eight or 10 cups of coffee, plus three, four times the amount of sugar that's in a regular pop, are they going to be ready to learn? Likely not."
The policy says schools are concerned about the effects of energy drinks on students' behaviour and health. When asked about how the energy drink will be enforced, Chatlain says it "isn't the Criminal Code." Staff members that discover students drinking the rancid stuff will likely have a chat with the student about the product, he says. Man, that's lame. You've got to take it seriously and in the end, you must make a big deal out of it. After all, that's the fun of banning students from doing certain things.
What's your favourite Cadbury product? For me, it's Caramilk. Yeah, it's good stuff. Well, the company is sold.
Kraft Foods sealed a friendly deal to buy candy-maker Cadbury for about $19.6 billion (or 11.9 billion pounds) after last-minute talks broke an impasse over price.
Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld injected her more cash into her bid and dropped the number of new shares in the offer to win Cadbury Chairman Roger Carr and mollify billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the American company's top shareholder.
The deal would create the world's biggest confectioner, and analysts see little likelihood of a counter-bid.
New York City health officials are pushing a nationwide plan to reduce the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over the next five years, in an effort that may help prevent heart attacks and stroke.
Sodium content is so high in ordinary foods that a deli sandwich alone may contain the total daily recommended amount for older adults, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said today in a statement. Under the proposed reduction, a 1/4-pound cheeseburger would have about a fourth of the daily recommended salt. The burger contains more than a third of the allotment now.
The changes may help prevent some of the 23,000 deaths a year in New York from heart attacks and stroke, the city said. Americans consume about twice the recommended amount of salt each day, the city said. About 80% of the sodium is added to foods before they are sold and much comes from baked goods that don't necessarily taste salty, the city said.
"The misconception is that if you're not adding salt to your food, then you're not a salt-eater," said Rebecca Solomon, a nutritional coordinator for the surgical weight loss program at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. "Salt is in all the things we rely on. It's a preservative, and it's an effective preservative, but unfortunately it doesn't preserve our health."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who started his third term this year, has made sweeping changes to New York City's health regulations including cutting trans fats in eating places and requiring fast-food restaurant menus to list calories. The salt reduction won't have as much impact on national health as those initiatives, Solomon said in a telephone interview. A 50% reduction would be "more appropriately ambitious," she said. The best ways to reduce salt intake are public education campaigns about the dangers of consuming too much salt and how to choose healthier foods, she said.
The reduction is voluntary for food manufacturers and restaurants. The city is soliciting comments from companies and consumer groups through February 1 and plans to adopt final U.S. targets for sodium reductions by spring. New York said it is working with other cities, states and health organizations as part of the initiative to cut salt intake.
"We are trying to extend lives and improve the lives of people who live in this city," Bloomberg said in a press conference in New York today. Life expectancy in the city has lengthened by 15 months over his eight-year tenure," the mayor said.
The city modeled its salt-reduction plan on England, which "has been very successful in getting packaged goods manufacturers to slowly reduce content," Bloomberg said.
Campbell Soup Co., the world's largest soup-maker, said it's discussing the targets with the New York health department.
"Their sodium-reduction vision is laudable; however, the targets proposed are quite aggressive and difficult to achieve," said Chor-San Khoo, vice president of Campbell's Global Nutrition and Health unit, in a statement. "We believe any initiative must be national in scope and not a city or a state-based approach."
Campbell, based in Camden, New Jersey, said it has more than quadrupled its lower sodium offerings to more than 110 products from 25 in 2005. The company reduced the sodium in more than 90 soups, including its condensed tomato soup and V8 vegetable juice drinks.
Hormel Foods Corp., the maker of Spam luncheon meat and Jennie-O turkey, cut out more than 560,000 pounds of salt from its products in 2007 and an additional 438,738 pounds in 2008, said Julie Craven, a spokeswoman for the Austin, Minnesota-based company, in an e-mail. She didn't comment on the New York City plan.
General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios cereal and Progresso soup, is "committed to reducing sodium levels" through its line of low-sodium soups and by making "smaller reductions silently over time," said Kirstie Foster, a spokeswoman. She declined in an e-mail to comment on the new initiative.
The American Heart Association and the American Medical Association today called for a 50% reduction over ten years and greater involvement from federal agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Bloomberg's plan "is a good first step," said Judith Wylie-Rosett, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association and a professor of epidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. "People complain that the low-sodium choice is hard to make; this will make it much easier if food companies cooperate, which I think they will."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, announced that it would close ten "financially underperforming" Sam's Club stores in the United States.
The company has closed all of its six Sam's Club stores in Canada to focus on its Supercentre format.
Walmart said on its website that it will close stores in Nampa, Idaho; Rolling Meadows, Illinois; Clay, New York; and in the California cities of La Quinta and Irvine. Stores in Houston, Phoenix and Sacramento will also disappear.
You know what's retarded? The perception that people have that Florida is always "hot." Sure, people may go down there to pretend it's not hot, but it does get cold too.
Well, the effects of a prolonged cold front parked over Florida have driven up some prices in Canadian produce aisles, with more increases likely.
During the past three or four days, the state known for its citrus groves has experienced night-time temperatures that are near freezing. Temperatures in some areas of central and south Florida are expected to dip to -4°C later this week.
About 10% of Florida's harvest of fruits and vegetables is sent to Canada.
Approximately 5,000 people have been booted off of a social networking website for gaining weight over the holidays, with 533 Canadians among the so-called "festive fatties" shown the virtual door.
Although the mass eviction has the hallmarks of an odd publicity stunt for BeautifulPeople.com, a gated online community with a ban on the ugly, the sheer of volume of members expelled, from a site whose members claim supreme interest in appearance, no less, speaks to how narrow-minded people have become.
The website issued a news release heralding the ousted, which occurred after members posted photos of themselves celebrating Christmas and the New Year.
"Vigilant members, who take pride in the standards demanded by the site, called for action," said the news release.
"Canada has been one of the worst offenders," says Greg Hodge, managing director of BeautifulPeople.com. "It's the eating, the drinking, the sitting on the couch watching TV -- that entire culture. Canada also has the added excuse of it being extremely cold, so people are wearing baggy clothes and don't mind letting themselves go a bit over the winter months."
Canadians were the third-largest group of rejects. The United States led with 1,520 and the United Kingdom was second with 832.
The Crown is out to prove that you can't go out and "have someone else's cake and lick it too!"
In Regina provincial court yesterday, Crown prosecutor James Fitz-Gerald attempted to see Alexander Dwight Rodrigue get his "just desserts" for an incident that allegedly involved cake-licking at an Extra Foods store in Regina.
Fitz-Gerald said that the incident occurred on June 15, 2009 when staff at the Extra Foods store on Broadway Avenue in Regina noticed a man in the bakery department "opening cake boxes, touching them and then licking the cakes."
A staff member apparently told him to stop but the man continued the bizarre behaviour. When he continued, the staff member asked him why he was touching the cakes.
Fitz-Gerald explains: "He said he was checking for freshness."
That is bizarre.
After pleading guilty, Rodrigue has decided to change his mind on his plea, apparently because the Crown isn't telling the truth.
An Ohio restaurant is offering lifetime discounts to people willing to make an indelible display of their love for grilled cheese sandwiches. Melt Bar & Grilled in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood specializes in spins on the grilled cheese and says anyone with a tattoo of the classic sandwich will get 25% off.
The restaurant has hooked up for the promotion with a tattoo shop, which is offering its own discount on grilled cheese designs. John Forgus of Voodoo Monkey Tattoo says he's been getting creative, giving one person a tattoo of Popeye holding a grilled cheese sandwich instead of a can of spinach.
Hungry patrons, chopsticks in hand, peruse the tantalizing platter up and down to select the most delectable sushi roll.
"Which piece do you recommend?" asks a young man, gesturing to the nearly naked brunette lying on a table, wearing maki, banana leaves and booty shorts. Naked sushi, popular in cosmopolitan centres such as New York, San Francisco and London, has arrived at Edmonton's Kai Asian Grill.
On Thursday nights, customers literally eat off a barely-dressed model. But managing partner Sean Lelacheur points out the restaurant's Naked Geisha Thursdays affair is about art, and not erotica.
"Some people can't believe it, but it's not what you think when you hear it."
To comply with health regulations, no sushi touches the models' skin. All morsels are displayed on banana leaves. Alberta Health Services did not respond to a request for comment, but Lelacheur said inspectors have made sure standards are being met.
Serving as a human sushi platter may sound easy, but job hazards include soy sauce drips and the danger of dynamite rolls tumbling off crevasses with the slightest twitch, said Courtney Owen, 18, a nightclub bartender and first-time naked sushi model at Kai last week.
Owen added the exposure left her a little chilly.
"It was cold at the beginning but when the chef brought the warm sushi, it warms up your whole body," she said, comparing the experience to a relaxing hot stone massage.
Santa should get off his sleigh and walk, and lay off the brandy and mince pies, says an Australian study published Thursday that criticizes the jolly old elf for being a bad role model for children. The current image of Santa Claus promotes obesity, drunk-driving, speeding and an unhealthy lifestyle, says a study from Australia"s Monash University published in the British Medical Journal.
"Epidemiologically there is a correlation between countries that venerate Santa Claus and those that have high levels of childhood obesity," says the research.
While a clear link has not been established, there "is a possibility that Santa promotes a message that obesity is synonymous with cheerfulness and joviality," it says.
"Santa might also be encouraged to adopt a more active method to deliver toys -- swapping his reindeer for a bike or simply walking or jogging," the study says.
Saskatoon Transit and C95 are once again partnering this holiday season to collect non-perishable food items for the Saskatoon Food Bank for the Stuff the Bus campaign on Thursday, December 17, 2009.
C95 hosts and Saskatoon Transit staff will be at the Saskatoon Co-op Marketplace from 6:00 AM until 6:00 PM collection non-perishable food items residents to "Stuff the Bus."
So, if you are not too good to give food to the food bank, drop by the Co-op store on 8th Street and drop off some stuff to stuff the bus.
Hopefully, they'll be using a newer New Flyer bus.
Liberal senators have once again altered a consumer protection bill, setting up another confrontation with the Conservative government and another way for Michael Ignatieff to get angry.
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, has sharply criticized the Senate for tinkering with the Consumer Product Safety Act, which represents the first comprehensive overhaul of consumer protection legislation in 40 years.
Bill C-6 gives federal inspectors new powers to search for, seize and recall dangerous consumer products ranging from toys to baby cribs and food items.
Bad Gordon, known to millions around the world as the braying task-master in charge of Hell's Kitchen, is renowned for his rages and his colourful way with words. The time-delay device hasn't been invented yet that can handle Bad Gordon's sudden mood swings and propensity for cursing. When he's being diplomatic, Bad Gordon says things like, "I have a very assertive way. It's wake up, move your ass or piss off home."
Good Gordon, on the other hand, while not exactly really nice, won't cost a TV network its broadcast licence. And he isn't out to terrorize you.
Good Gordon wants 'Cookalong Live' to show everyday people, not food snobs but down-at-home folks who work for a living and don't have time to study haute cuisine -- how to prepare a tasty three-course meal, whether it's to invite friends over for a memorable dinner or just treat your taste buds to something special.
Viewers will be encouraged to chop, mince, julienne and filet alongside 'Good Gordon,' in real time. And they won't be berated, cursed or shouted at, let alone be invited to the back for a "dressing down" or a "good talking-to."
Viewers who are so inclined can prep themselves in advance by checking online at www.fox.com/cookalong for the list of ingredients, utensils and cookware needed to keep up, though it seems more likely most viewers will simply sit down and enjoy the show, pick up pointers and record the demonstration for later reference, if needed.
He promises to be on his best behaviour.
"Chefs cook live each and every day," Good Gordon explained recently. "This is a chance, more than anything, to remove the intimidation and keep it fun. Staying in is the new going out. I want to make it inspirational, make sure we don't just guide but give some kind of insight. For me, from a personal point-of-view, starting with raw ingredients and taking it to something phenomenal in 60 minutes is quite an adrenalin rush."
The first six minutes are the hardest, he says.
"After that, it becomes more exciting."
The secret to a successful dinner party is delegating the side dishes.
"Delegate the appetizer; get friends to bring the dessert. You focus on one course."
The secret to the success of "Cookalong Live," Good Gordon suggests, will be the fun involved.
"It's raw. It's fun. For me, most importantly, it's a way of transforming some plain-Jane ingredients into something quite magical."
"Cookalong Live" will be an opportunity, too, for Good Gordon to get away from Bad Gordon.
"I never get a chance to cook properly on Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares," Good Gordon explained. "A lot gets crammed into 45 minutes of footage. The biggest complaint I've had about Hell's Kitchen -- not just from family but from viewers -- is, 'We don't see you cook enough.' I do enjoy being in an unpressurized environment. I have an amazing wife and four children. Trust me, I don't act like that (Hell's Kitchen) when things go wrong with a Sunday lunch at home."
"Yes, I'm a hard-ass, driven, self-confessed perfectionist. But in a domestic scene, I want to have the excitement of the journey as well."
'Cookalong Live' isn't just for the wealthy set, either.
"We're not going the fine-dining route, locating the most amazing endive, scallops or a Maine lobster. This is mainstream. Whether you have a budget of $100 a month or $300 a month for food at home, it's about having the intelligence not to waste. I didn't grow up with a silver spoon. We didn't go out to restaurants and have those kinds of glamorous nights. Mainstream is a great appetizer and a great entree, something exciting, with fruit and clearly a lot of protein and starch for the entree."
Hong Kong dropped its six-year ban on Canadian beef Sunday, which makes it another win for Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he wrapped up a three-day visit to China.
In Beijing, Shanghai and now there, Mr. Harper has unveiled a series of initiatives to improve trade ties between the two countries.
Alone, each initiative is relatively small, but the cumulative effect could help narrow Canada's trade deficit with China. Lifting the beef ban could be worth about $60 million a year to Canadian farmers.
The people of Bergen (Norway) rolled out their cookie dough on Monday as local cops tried to sniff out vandals who destroyed a whole town of gingerbread houses.
Those bastards...
On Saturday, vandals entered a massive tent in central Bergen crushed most of the 650-cookie-house town, topping off the ruins with paint and fire extinguisher foam. Cops in Norway's second largest city asked for the public's help in catching the punks.
"The people who did this must be full of gingerbread dust. They will smell a long way," said police inspector Erik Sveaas.
Local media reported that the destruction had shocked the residents of the Bergen, a picturesque city on the North Sea coast where kids decorate hundreds of gingerbread houses every year before Christmas.
In the multibillion-dollar beer industry, a spoiled batch can cost brewers tens of millions of dollars, not to mention the loss of reputation. Because most beer is not pasteurized but is cold-filtered, there is always a risk of bacterial growth producing acid. The result is sour beer.
University of Saskatchewan student Kendra Morrow spent the summer working in a pathology lab on research that could improve quality control aspects of beer-making. Her work may provide brewers with tools to identify bad bacteria and to assess the risk of any spoilage.
"The methods we use in the lab to isolate bacteria are the same ones we use to study common diseases in human pathology," says Morrow, who graduated in the spring with a degree in microbiology and immunology. "Our pathogens just happen to destroy beer."
Working with master's student Vanessa Pittet and supervisor Barry Ziola, Morrow has focused her work on the "glucosyltransferase" (GTF) enzyme. Highly feared in breweries, the gene that encodes for this enzyme makes bacteria particularly pesky, helping it stick to stainless steel piping and other equipment. Not all bugs have this gene. The lab's new research has fine-tuned what Ziola calls a rapid detection method, one that assesses the potential for bacteria to form what he describes as a sticky, slimy matrix, "like a thick syrup on the outside of the bacteria."
Though beer is a toxic environment for most germs, with the high ethanol concentrations and little or no oxygen, certain bacteria still have the potential to cause a serious outbreak. Those germs robust enough to survive are very difficult and costly to eradicate with conventional cleaning processes. Knowing what genes are present in bacteria is important for brewers not only to assess the risk, but sometimes to also change their cleaning processes entirely.
Morrow got involved in the project after Pittet stumbled across French research that originally identified a gene common to wine and cider spoiling organisms. Morrow then won an undergraduate student research award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to screen bacteria for the gene and explore its significance.
Multinational beer makers now have a vested interest in the genomic sequencing of these bacteria.
Ziola says the work has already generated funding from at least one major brewing company in the United States. As Ziola notes, it is critical to detect spoilers before the beer is bottled or canned, since it takes just one foul beer in the hands of one customer to ruin a company's good reputation.
There's still more research to be done on beer-spoiling bacteria, research that could be valuable not only in the brewery quality control laboratory, but in industrial settings with ethanol environments, Morrow says. Because the research done by Pittet has established what the gene can and cannot do, "our lab can now search for other possible genes or mechanisms that allow bacteria to survive high-ethanol conditions," she says.
New knowledge through research could be applied to any industry where yeast is fermented to make alcohol and high levels of bacteria could lead to poor alcohol production. In wine-making or fuel alcohol, for example, contamination could seriously affect the profit margin. Morrow says working on the NSERC project has helped her learn to apply her knowledge in a practical setting and also to define her career aspirations.
Her strong curiosity drew her to the lab work. Though initially she felt "like the annoying child who is always asking questions," she found that "asking questions and being curious is exactly what you want and need in a research setting."
She hopes to continue her work on the beer-spoiling bacteria in Ziola's lab next summer, leaving the door open to other medical research. For now, she is enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan medical school, studying to become a physician.
Available in Japan for a limited time, Burger King is offering a Windows 7 Whopper. It stacks seven patties into an impossibly caloric 5-inch-tall structure, all for a special price of 777 yen ($8.50). Well, it is that price for the first 30 customers.
Check out the "poster" below, if you can understand Japanese:
You know what I like to do? I like to door-to-door asking for candy, because only kids go trick or treating. That's right. Besides, trick-or-treating may end have you ending up with more tricks than treats.
Well, this year, you could probably expect less kids knocking on your door for free candy. A perfect storm of economic restraints, H1N1 fears and fewer Canadian children of trick-or-treating age means that this Halloween may be the one where we open the doors to the lowest turnout of those wanting free candy.
Results of recent surveys suggest that the economy will affect the Halloween plans of about one-third of households, while slightly more, 36%, are more concerned about contracting the H1N1 flu virus.
As crappy as that is, it is also good, as you won't have to buy as much candy this year.
Sydney Ruest submitted a photo to the people who make Jones Soda and it's now immortalized on the flavour blue bubble gum.
"It's one of my favourites," Ruest says Monday. "That's the one I used to only drink."
The 20-year-old Saskatoon woman, who attends Minot State University, submitted her photo in March, which is from a family trip to Florida she took in December, a picture of the Hulk roller-coaster at Universal's theme park.
"I personally didn't go on it,'' she says."I'm terrified of roller-coasters."
It made a great picture, though. Ruest sent it to Jones and got her family and friends to vote for it. It ranked 8.5 on a scale of 10 and was a staff pick. Then, it was time for the official letter from Jones: "Only a mere one per cent of all submitted photos make it to the much sought after Jones label. So please take a moment to step back, bask in all your glory and know that you are officially neater today than you were yesterday. Want your own bottle? Check your local store where you already buy Jones. Happy hunting!"
And look she did, finally finding four bottles at Sobeys over the Thanksgiving weekend.
"I was like, 'Oh my gosh. Dad, look, it's here.' People were staring us."
Ruest got copies of the label from the company, but there's no monetary award, not even free pop. Fame is sweet enough though. Apparently, it's addicting, too and Ruest plans to enter again.
"I have to find something equally cool to put on there."
As more Canadians turn to food banks in the wake of the economic recession, demand for the service grew by nearly 75% in the last year while the number of donations went... down, a whole lot, according The Salvation Army.
In a survey released today, the charitable organization said that it served 25,000 more people and 65,000 more meals in the last twelve months at its 275 locations across Canada.
But 40.4% of those centres noted a decrease in donations while 72.6% saw an increase in bums.
"Despite the fact that Canada is now emerging from a global economic recession, more Canadians than ever are relying upon social service agencies like The Salvation Army to meet basic needs," the report said.
Every province recorded declines, which were most frequent in Ontario and British Columbia.
A fast-food restaurant in a western Ontario city served cheeseburgers to a Canadian Forces pilot yesterday, while his helicopter was parked outside. Michelle Patterson said Friday she thought something was wrong when she looked out one of the windows of the A&W restaurant. All she saw was flying dust.
"I thought, 'Oh gee,' and I went over to the side of our building and there was a helicopter there with a police car," she said.
Moments later, the helicopter pilot walked into the restaurant.
"He said he was here to pick up some supper before taking off again," said Patterson. "He joked about wanting to come through the drive-thru but he couldn't fit. Then I told him I would've delivered."
Patterson said that the pilot ordered enough cheeseburgers, fries and root beer for six people. He said he was going to feed the other pilots at the airport before they refuelled and fly to Thunder Bay, Ontario, and eventually back to Quebec. After the pilot paid for his takeout, he walked back across the street to the parking lot of a baseball diamond where he had parked his helicopter and took off.
"The whole thing took no more than eight minutes, then he was gone," she said.
Patterson has worked at the fast-food restaurant for 16 years. The last odd mode of transportation she's seen a customer arrive in? A motorized scooter once came to the restaurant. A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay has yet to issue a comment about the unscheduled takeout order.
Kenora is 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.
One day after Avatar was disappointed at the Oscars, a Vancouver restaurant owner plans to file a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court today claiming copyright infringement against director James Cameron and other makers of the highest-grossing film of all time. 
The parent company of Real Canadian Superstore and T&T Supermarket has pledged to stop selling non-sustainable fish and immediately removed four at-risk species from Loblaw's 1,000-plus stores across the country.
For Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there was more riding on Sunday's hockey game than just national pride in his favourite sport. There was also a case of Molson Canadian in it, which is great beer.
A Russian chimp has been sent to rehab by its zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, according to a popular daily newspaper.
No matter where they're from in the world, it seems like many people want to get a piece of Saskatchewan at the Winter Olympics. Upon his arrival Monday at the Saskatchewan pavilion in Vancouver, Regina citizen Davin Stachoski noted the longest line-up was not to get into the venue; it was to have your picture taken in front of a green screen that would eventually be superimposed on a photo of either a wheat field, a potash mine or Gainer the Gopher at Mosaic Stadium.
Local Seinfeld fans in Tallahassee, Florida rejoiced this past Monday when one of the show's best known characters arrived in the rain!
Genetically engineered pigs are one step closer to becoming meat on Canadian kitchen tables with the Government of Canada poised to declare that they do not harm the environment. According to Canwest News Service, Environment Canada has determined that Yorkshire pigs developed at the University of Guelph are not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The official declaration will be made on Saturday.
Even Saskatchewan inmates are pitching in to help Haitians recover from a devastating earthquake, says Corrections Minister Yogi Huyghebaert.
Only time will tell if a class-action lawsuit accusing Canada's biggest chocolate makers of collusion has bitten off more than it can chew... but it has achieved at least a partial victory.
Life in Saskatchewan almost couldn't get any better, according to a province-wide survey on quality of life. The study, conducted by the Community Initiatives Fund, surveyed more than 4,000 residents from ten regions throughout Saskatchewan, with 79% of respondents stating they were satisfied with their overall quality of life.
What do you do when you're a business owner that deals with a supposedly-obnoxious customer? Well, you use the law to ban them for life, if you can.
Do you drink a can of soda every day? Maybe it's time to think again. Drinking two or more soft drinks a week may nearly double a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer, researchers are warning. That is scary, and is definitely going to change my soda-drinking habits.
Think that muffin labelled as low-fat won't get to your ass? Well, think again! Muffins billed as low-fat at your favourite coffee shop may not be so free of fat. And that low-fat sandwich or pizza slice on the menu of your fast-food joint may not be as "lean" as advertised.
Argentina President Cristina Fernandez recommended pork as an alternative to Viagra on Wednesday, saying that she spent a satisfying weekend with her husband after eating barbecued pork.
Coca-Cola today launched a social media campaign on Facebook that teases its upcoming Super Bowl commercials while raising funds for Boys & Girls Club of America.
What's your favourite Cadbury product? For me, it's Caramilk. Yeah, it's good stuff. Well, the company is sold.
New York City health officials are pushing a nationwide plan to reduce the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over the next five years, in an effort that may help prevent heart attacks and stroke. 
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, announced that it would close ten "financially underperforming" Sam's Club stores in the United States.
Remember Jason Alexander? What? You don't remember George Costanza from Seinfeld?
You know what's retarded? The perception that people have that Florida is always "hot." Sure, people may go down there to pretend it's not hot, but it does get cold too.
The Crown is out to prove that you can't go out and "have someone else's cake and lick it too!"
An Ohio restaurant is offering lifetime discounts to people willing to make an indelible display of their love for grilled cheese sandwiches. Melt Bar & Grilled in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood specializes in spins on the grilled cheese and says anyone with a tattoo of the classic sandwich will get 25% off.
Hungry patrons, chopsticks in hand, peruse the tantalizing platter up and down to select the most delectable sushi roll. 
Santa should get off his sleigh and walk, and lay off the brandy and mince pies, says an Australian study published Thursday that criticizes the jolly old elf for being a bad role model for children. The current image of Santa Claus promotes obesity, drunk-driving, speeding and an unhealthy lifestyle, says a study from Australia"s Monash University published in the British Medical Journal.
Saskatoon Transit and C95 are once again partnering this holiday season to collect non-perishable food items for the Saskatoon Food Bank for the Stuff the Bus campaign on Thursday, December 17, 2009.
Liberal senators have once again altered a consumer protection bill, setting up another confrontation with the Conservative government and another way for Michael Ignatieff to get angry.
Gordon Ramsay is going to cook live on TV. Is that a good idea? The famously flambé-tempered chef doesn't take offence at the question, at first. Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live will feature 'Good Gordon,' (one that doesn't call people donkeys) after all.
Hong Kong dropped its six-year ban on Canadian beef Sunday, which makes it another win for Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he wrapped up a three-day visit to China.
The people of Bergen (Norway) rolled out their cookie dough on Monday as local cops tried to sniff out vandals who destroyed a whole town of gingerbread houses.
In the multibillion-dollar beer industry, a spoiled batch can cost brewers tens of millions of dollars, not to mention the loss of reputation. Because most beer is not pasteurized but is cold-filtered, there is always a risk of bacterial growth producing acid. The result is sour beer.
You know what I like to do? I like to door-to-door asking for candy, because only kids go trick or treating. That's right. Besides, trick-or-treating may end have you ending up with more tricks than treats.
As more Canadians turn to food banks in the wake of the economic recession, demand for the service grew by nearly 75% in the last year while the number of donations went... down, a whole lot, according The Salvation Army.
A fast-food restaurant in a western Ontario city served cheeseburgers to a Canadian Forces pilot yesterday, while his helicopter was parked outside. Michelle Patterson said Friday she thought something was wrong when she looked out one of the windows of the A&W restaurant. All she saw was flying dust.
